A school is asking parents to shut their Whatsapp groups comprised of class parents to avoid Lashon Hara.
“We understand that these groups were started innocently as a means of gathering information to help their children (i.e. homework, tests), but much of the time there is misinformation and other gossip which leads to disastrous results,” the letter reads.
“Using Whatsapp as an open forum for everyone to weigh in leads to communication that is unhealthy for the Yeshiva and everyone concerned.”
Click the photo for the full letter.
[TLS-28]
I understand the fear of the school and their suggestion to do away with this form of communication.
If they feel that this undermines their authority and is a detriment to the running of their school then it is in their right to convey this to their parent body.
I would like to point out however, suggesting the non use of this app is opening up a can of worms. Not just for their school but for the town as a whole- a letter sent to a parent body is tantamount to a public letter and therefore needs to take into consideration the tzibor at large.
Oh, no. The people have become enlightened. Allowing parents to discuss issues that pertain to the chinuch of their precious children in an open forum, where they can share their thoughts without fear of retribution, has suddenly become a horrible misdeed. Seriously?
This sounds like a school that has something to hide. There’s never anything wrong with a group of parents of kids in the same class getting together to discuss what may be going on with their children. We all know that schools constantly try to convince us that the problem lies with our child and never with the teacher/rebbe or even the administration itself. This kind of thing threatens them because they can no longer say “it must be your son because we haven’t had any other complaints”. I strongly feel that hiding behind the guise of Lashon Hara is just the sort of thing that allows people in a position of power to abuse their authority.
I think it would be better for the staff/hanhola to actually join the group & can answer questions parents have, relay fears and help everyone invloved.
The school is right. If a parent has an issue with a teacher or anything, let the parent call the school or the teacher and clear it up. There is zero benefit to anybody to rant about it to the parents of the whole class.
Additionally, posting on Whatsapp could be very impulsive and somebody could write something in a fit of anger or confusion that is inaccurate and then regret it when it’s too late and rumors and emotions have already begun flying all over the place.
@MonseyBoy How about when they start discussing on the forum about other (or maybe your) kids? What he did, and if he deserves to get punished. Are you fine with that? The school is 100% correct.
The children of these parents need to expelled immediately how dare they have Internet and whatsapp to begin with.
Anyone who ever worked in a school knows that this can be extremely damaging. Each child needs to be treated differently and if the parents are talking to each other, they can paint a teacher/rebbe as being a certain way, when they are only hearing one side and not understanding all that happened. The school obviously will not fill in the missing details as that would be breach off confidentiality. So, the school is muzzled and the parents could gab?